Overall Rating: 8.2
A surprising, bold, flashy and desperately needed jumpstart applied to a stagnant and aging franchise, what the newest Trek movie lacks in plot depth, it makes up for in ingenuity, great acting and pure entertainment value - not to mention in its potential to open up new takes on old stories, energize the Star Trek universe and provide millions of Trekkies with a new wave of entertainment and enthusiasm that could last another 40 years.
Plot Synopsis:
The year is 2233. In the early days of the Federation (founded in 2161 as established in Trek canon and shown in the final series, 'Enterprise'), the fleet is unprepared for what awaits it when a strange spatial disruption (like an electrical storm) is reported and a ship called the Kelvin is dispatched to investigate. As it turns out, this disturbance is an artificial black hole and through this maw appears a massive Romulan ship later identified as the Narada. The ship destroys a nearby space station and severely damages the Kelvin in its' opening volley - its technology is clearly superior to anything they've encountered before. In the midst of this attack, the Kelvin is hailed, and a man calling himself Nero demands that the Kelvin surrender its Captain or face immediate destruction. Captain Rotau agrees and places George Kirk, his first officer, in command, ordering him to evacuate the ship if he does not report within 15 minutes. While the crew of the Kelvin watches their captain's health status intently, he is interrogated about an ambassador named spock (which whom he is not familiar) and a ship called Enterprise (which of course he has not seen). Evidently angered by his non-responses, Nero kills Rotau with a Romulan blade and opens fire on the Kelvin once more. Seeing that his ship is falling apart, Kirk orders the crew to evacuate. His autonavigation systems have failed already so he must remain on board to continue the attack on the Narada to buy his people time to escape. While he plots a collision course and takes out missiles aimed at those escape pods, his wife Wynona is in labor. Forlornly, they say their goodbyes as their son is born. They decide on a name - Jim (after Wynona's father, since Tyberius, George's father, would make for a horrible first name) - and the Kelvin collides with the Narada, exploding on impact and crippling the attacking ship.
Some years later, a young James T. Kirk is once again a fugitive as he drives a classic car owned by his deceased father, chased by police on flying motorcycles. In a defiant act of wanton destruction, he drives the car right off a cliff and dives out just before plummeting to his own demise. Meanwhile, a young Vulcan named Spock is being tested by his school on his emotional control. A pack of bullies is allowed to harass him mercilessly - calling his human mother a whore and his half-blood heritage treasonous.
Still later, a brash young Kirk finds his way to a bar outside a Star Fleet training facility where he egregiously harasses a woman named Uhura and picks a fight with several much larger men in her company, getting himself beat to a pulp before Starfleet security arrives to break up the melee. A recruiter for Star Fleet questions Kirk on why a man as brilliant as he would want to throw his life away and live on the wrong side of the law and then offers him the opportunity to join an Academy training program. Star Fleet needs gifted people like Kirk, and Kirk needs direction in his life. He dismisses the idea at first but shortly thereafter, we see him roll into their training facility on his motorcycle, give it to a technician and start a new life. On Vulcan, Spock must choose between undergoing the Kolinahr ritual and joining the Vulcan Science Academy or joining Star Fleet and living among predominantly human crew mates. When he is informed that he has been grudgingly accepted to the Science Academy despite his inferior human DNA, Spock rejects their offer in defense of his mother and chooses Star Fleet Academy instead.
After a few short years at the Academy, Spock is already in charge of programming the Kobayashi Maru test (the unsolvable problem designed to test a captain's ability to control his fear and face failure) and Kirk is about to graduate with his class. He cheats the Kobayashi Maru by altering the program, bringing him to a hearing on whether he should still be allowed to graduate with his class. He defiantly claims that he doesn't believe in unsolvable problems or no-win situations and that he did nothing expressly against the rules. A level-headed Spock insists that the purpose of the exam has been thwarted and that Kirk should be kept inactive until he recognizes the value of the test.
Their argument is interrupted, however, when a spatial anomaly (like an electrical storm in space!) is reported over Vulcan which is causing seismic upheaval. The fleet has been spread thin over the last few years with similar attacks and all Cadets at the Academy are ordered to report for duty aboard a new military fleet just being completed to defend the Federation (a much more militarized Federation, thanks to a string of attacks by the Narada and conflicts with the Romulans). Their mission is to investigate and offer evacuation of the planet if it becomes necessary. Kirk is on the no-fly list, but his good friend Leonard McCoy, a doctor aboard the newly minted USS Enterprise, helps him fake an illness to get aboard. Meanwhile, Uhura fights to get herself assigned to the Enterprise despite her personal relationship with Spock (!) and he reluctantly agrees. On board, we find Pavel Chekov and Sulu too. The original crew largely reassembled, the much more militarized looking Enterprise launches with the fleet and heads for Vulcan.
Kirk, after rousing from the delirium caused by the injections McCoy had given him to fake an illness, realizes that the electrical disturbance over Vulcan had to be the Narada (a story from the days of his father) and that they were walking into a trap. He pleads with Captain Pike (the senior officer who'd stopped his bar brawl three years earlier and presided over his hearing regarding the Kobayashi Maru scandal) to listen to his warning and Spock agrees that his supposition is logical. Pike takes it under advisement but even if Vulcan is under attack by Romulans as Kirk insists, they will still need to assist. When they arrive at Vulcan, they find the planet under attack by a massive laser drill and the rest of their cadet-manned fleet in ruins.
The Narada lays siee to the Enterprise, destroying its sickbay in the first attack and killing its' Chief Medical Officer. Nero then realizes this is the very ship he's been after and hails the Enterprise. He demands that Pike come aboard the Narada just as he'd done with Captain Robau. They mount a visually spectacular (but incredibly implausible) battle plan. They can't use their transporters because the drill is throwing off interference as long as it's in use, so Kirk, Sulu, and a red shirt (their original Chief Engineer) "space jump" from the ship all the way down the grappling apparatus holding the drill to the Narada, leaving Pike alone to deal with Nero. They must land on a platform about 10 feet wide and get there quickly enough that they can't be shot at from orbit. They must then deactivate the drill so that rescue operations on Vulcan can begin. Upon landing (the red shirt misses and falls to his death of course), Kirk and Sulu do hand to hand battle with Romulan soldiers on the platform and eventually succeed in stopping the drill.
Now Spock, who is left in command of the Enterprise by Pike observes as Vulcan begins to disintegrate. The drill succeeded in reaching deeply enough into the planet's core to allow for the creation of a singularity using a small amount of "red matter." There isn't enough time to evacuate everyone, but Spock beams down to rescue his mother and father, along with leaders of the Vulcan government, only to watch his mother get lost by the transporter when the ground she was standing on disintegrates. He is heartbroken upon returning to the Enterprise and realizing his mother has not survived. Captain Pike is also lost aboard the Narada, and is held captive by Nero. Here, we learned that at some point in the future, Romulus will be destroyed and that Nero is now seeking retribution against the Federation for allowing it to happen. He inserts a brain slug into Pike's head to try to force him to give up the defense codes protecting Earth.
Spock and Kirk are immediately and violently at odds over how to deal with their current situation. Spock wants to report to the Federation Council, Kirk wants to pursue the Narada head on, thinking there isn't time to sit around talking. As punishment for his disagreement, Spock maroons Kirk on an ice planet - Delta Vega (another world in the Vulcan system), where Kirk is nearly eaten by two different huge toothy animals before finding refuge in a cave and getting an assist from an elderly man - it's Ambassador Spock (!). We learn that in the future, Vulcan's sun will go supernova and that Spock will promise to help them prevent it, but fail to reach it in time. Nero will watch his planet get incinerated and then, as soon as he's able, he'll go back in time, pursued by Spock, and exact his revenge. Trapped on Delta Vega, Spock is forced to watch while his home world disintegrates. With the story told, Spock and Kirk make for the Federation outpost on the planet and make contact with...C. Montgomery Scott! Evidently, Engineer Scott was ordered to this desolate outpost by Admiral Archer after his experiments in warp speed transportation resulted in the loss of Archer's dog Porthos.
Spock is insistent that Kirk must return to the Enterprise and take command...that the Enterprise must pursue Nero and save Earth as Kirk insists, and Kirk and Spock must find some way to get along - Spock speaks from experience, of course. :) Scott's transporter brilliance affords them the opportunity to beam aboard the Enterprise even while the ship is at warp and Kirk and Scott make their way to the bridge. They must provoke an emotional response from Spock to prove that he's been compromised by the death of his mother and get command, which Kirk succeeds in doing quite effectively. Disturbed by his outburst, he speaks with Sarek (his father), saying he feels a rage he cannot control over his mother's murder. Sarek stunningly advises him not to try...some emotion is healthy - including the love he'd felt for his wife.
With the Enterprise under his command, Kirk goes after Nero (once again using Scott's transporter genius to get Kirk and a newly subordinate Spock aboard undetected. After a short firefight, they locate Pike and steal the red matter device. When they board the Jellyfish vessel, it springs to life and recognizes younger-Spock as its pilot. Here he realizes that this must be a ship from the future piloted by himself at a later time. Spock uses this vessel to destroy the drill and stop the attack on Earth. Meanwhile, Kirk heads for the Narada's bridge and succeeds in killing Nero's first officer but Nero flees. Meanwhile, Spock's Jellyfish goes to warp and Nero pursues. With his plans to destroy Earth thwarted, he now cares only for killing Spock.
Spock drops out of warp (followed closely by the Narada) and turns on an intercept course. The red matter device he carries will surely create a singularity within the Narada, destroying it and killing Nero in the process. Nero attempts to shoot him down but the Enterprise arrives on the scene to take out the missiles heading for Spock and Scott once again does his thing to rescue Spock as his ship heads for collision. With both future vessels destroyed, the temporal incursions are finally put to rest. Kirk assumes command of the Enterprise for good, Pike having been severely injured by the torture he suffered at the hands of Nero (and now promoted to the Admiralty) and Spock becomes his first officer.
*phew* Complex enough plot for ya?
Writing: 8.0
There are many strong moments within the dialog. Scott is written with more humor than even the original article from the 1960s. The bond between McCoy and Kirk is well depicted in their conversations together, as is McCoy's basic personality. I very much enjoyed Spock's interactions with Sarek and his mother and I think the script-writers did a fantastic job blending personalities we all know and love with a modern re-imagining made possible by the changes to the timeline.
Speaking of changes to the timeline, it takes some SERIOUS cajones to take a franchise that has been loved obsessively by millions of devoted fans who grew up with this stuff as kids in the 60s and hit the RESET BUTTON! But they did it. Not only that...they did it in a way that shakes the original Star Trek out of its often hackneyed 1960s Hollywood slumber and brings it into the modern age without making fans of the older version feel forgotten. The fact that this movie has been praised by Trekkies and non-Trekkies alike says something about the genius of this movie from a plot standpoint.
Acting: 9.5
J.J. Abrams and his casting team actually managed to significantly outcast the team that cast the original show! If it's possible, I think Chris Pine was more the definitive Kirk than William Shatner ever was, Zachary Quinto did just about as well as Leonard Nimoy ever managed in the role of Spock (depicting the conflicted nature of a half-human half-Vulcan upbringing is not an easy task, but he did that very well), and I came away quite impressed with Karl Urban (McCoy), Simon Pegg (Scott) and even Zoe Saldana (Uhura - who's character got infinitely more depth in this movie than it ever got in the entire history of the Trek franchise).
Acting carried the day for this movie - in the end, replacing a legendary (in the minds of the Trekkies out there...personally, I think most of the acting in the original show was quite poor, but what are you going to do?) cast and making us all believe you are who you're replacing with convincing style is a hard HARD thing to achieve and from top to bottom, they succeeded.
Message: 7.0
Although this movie was not heavy on the message front (it's pretty much wall to wall action with some interesting character moments sprinkled around for good measure), it gets higher than average marks from me for once again quietly undermining Roddenberry's naive picture of Vulcan society as a laudable model to which we should aspire. The fact is, purging yourself of all emotions defeats the purpose of living. Pure logic is utterly without meaning to anyone (like myself) who believes that sentient beings possess a soul and that the meaning of life is learning to give and receive love and reach toward a higher power.
A world where reacting to ones emotions is discouraged does not make sense in the context of human nature (and aliens on a sci-fi movie or television show are always meant to represent pieces of humanity) and feels to me like the illogical nature of Alcoholics Anonymous. Let me explain what I mean by that.
The history of Vulcan as told by Roddenberry includes the detail that Vulcans have EXTREMELY powerful emotions. When they are in their natural state, they become savage, jealous, blood-thirsty killing machines. The Pon Farr is supposed to be a window into what emotional Vulcans are really like. The way Vulcans decided to handle their emotional problems was to quit their emotions cold turkey and never to confront them. Think of them as emotional addicts who think the only solution is to never touch their emotions again except in a rigid logical mating-based schedule. How can their species ever progress from this state to a state where they master the beneficial use of their emotions for the greater good without...sometimes actually using those emotions. I put forward the claim that it's spiritually more rewarding to feel your emotions fully, express those emotions appropriately, and channel them toward the greater good than to treat those emotions as a disease that must be purged.
Analogously, AA tells members that they are weaker than the bottle...that they have a disease that must be purged. How can an alcoholic ever conquer their demons with drug abuse without proving to themselves that they are stronger than the bottle...without having a drink and demonstrating that one drink does not have to lead to 20 more? I put forward the analogous claim that although the wiring in the brain gets altered by alcohol overuse, there is no human that is truly weaker than the bottle, and that no recovering alcoholic will ever move past viewing themselves as victims of a disease and take control of their lives without proving to themselves that they can drink without becoming a drunk.
In the emotional climax of the movie, Spock confides in Sarek that his rage over his mother's passing and the destruction of his world is beyond his control, and Sarek suggests to him that he shouldn't try...that some emotions are important (like his love for his wife) and that the key was not to be perfectly void of emotion, but to be in control of that emotion and use it for the greater good (which he does when he orders the destruction of Nero's ship). If Vulcans are a pack of emotion addicts, then Spock will go forth as the only one of them to have beaten his addiction and moved on to a higher spiritual realm. And that is a message worth savoring.
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